The Blue Plate, a new book from Patagonia, introduces the carbon-farming pioneers working to reverse the course of climate change

Did you know more than a quarter of the dangerous climate-heating greenhouse gas emissions produced around the world today come from the simple steps of growing, catching, processing, transporting, and cooking food—and then dealing with leftovers? This alarming statistic motivated ecologist Mark J. Easter to dramatically change what and how he and his family eat. Today he begins each meal with a quick calculation of the climate impacts of the food before him, aiming for “a blue plate” consisting of delicious, nutritious, low-carbon food.

This fall, Patagonia will publish The Blue Plate: A Food Lover's Guide to Climate Chaos (September 17, 2024, hardcover, 9781952338205) by Mark J. Easter, the first book written from a scientist’s point of view to offer a detailed picture of the carbon impact our favorite foods have on the Earth.

Easter researches the carbon footprint of food as part of a Colorado State University team of “greenhouse gas accountants” whose mission is to understand how greenhouse gases move into and out of soils and plants on farms and ranches. He has traveled globally to collaborate with farmers, ranchers, foresters, and others to learn how the ways people grow food and fiber make agriculture healthier and less damaging to the climate.

The Blue Plate tells hopeful stories of food producers who are already bending the climate emissions curve and contributing to climate solutions. While food emissions currently surpass those from fossil fuels used in agriculture, Easter outlines how simple changes in how we produce food can transform major pieces of its footprint from a source of emissions to a carbon sink, while creating more nutritious food that is lighter on the land.

Organized by the ingredients of a typical dinner party, including seafood, salad, bread, chicken, steak, potatoes, and fruit pie with ice cream, each chapter examines the food through the lens of the climate crisis. Learn about the soil that grows the lettuce, the farmers and ranchers and orchardists who steward the land, the dairy and farm workers and grocers who labor to bring it to the table, and the waste managers that process our leftovers.

The book travels to a Wyoming fertilizer plant, a Colorado landfill, an Idaho fish farm, a Colorado peach orchard, to dairies across the country, to the inside of a cow’s stomach, to an Indiana corn and soybean farm, an Arizona lettuce farm, and deep into the soil before circling back the reader’s own plate. Each chapter reveals the causes and effects of greenhouse gas emissions, as well as the social and environmental impact of out-of-season and far-from-home demand.

Food lovers everywhere will be happy to know that the answer to eating more sustainably is not necessarily a plant-based diet, but instead, to educate yourself about the best way and time of year to eat the foods you enjoy, including steak, dairy, and seafood. The typical plate of food, Easter says, can be transformed into a “Blue Plate," a diet that is healthy not just for the people who eat it, but good for the planet.

Easter offers low-carbon, in-season alternatives that make your favorite foods not only more climate-friendly, but also more delicious. The first step, however, is an understanding of how food is grown, produced, harvested, and shipped. In stories both personal and entertaining, The Blue Plate offers a full understanding of what’s for dinner.

Mark J. Easter (Fort Collins, CO) is an ecologist who has conducted research in academia and private industry since 1988. He received a B.S. in Electrical Engineering from Purdue University in 1982 and a M.S. in Botany from the University of Vermont in 1991. Easter authored and co-authored more than fifty scientific papers and reports related to carbon cycling and the carbon footprint of agriculture, forestry, and other land uses. He contributed analyses to multiple reports published by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). In 2018 he was named a fellow of the Colorado State University School of Global Environmental Sustainability. Besides his scientific work, Easter co-founded the organization Save The Poudre and is a founding board member of the organization “Save the Colorado.” He works with these organizations to help restore rivers to healthy conditions and protect rivers from water development. He loves to read, cook from his garden, hike and ski in wild places, and spend time with his wife, Leslie Brown and their dog, Bonny.

Praise

“Tag along with one of the premier scientists studying our food system's carbon footprint, as he takes us on a fascinating journey to meet the farmers, ranchers, and composters who are dramatically slashing emissions and transforming agriculture from a climate problem to a climate solution.” — Liz Carlisle, author of Lentil Underground, Grain by Grain and Healing Grounds

“The Blue Plate is a lively look at the carbon footprint of our food — a journey that takes us across America and zooms in on our favorite eats. Similar in spirit to Rising: Dispatches from the New American Shore by Elizabeth Rush, this book directs an honest gaze at what’s going on — and what we can do about it. Grounded in science, and yet told in story, this book teaches, inspires, and informs. From peaches to bread to beer to fish, The Blue Plate is indeed about our planet, our plates, and our future.” — Laura Pritchett, author of The Blue Hour, Stars Go Blue, and Red Lightning

“The Blue Plate is the food book of the decade, and it tastes like hope. With the story-telling chops of Michael Pollan, the ethics of Thoreau, and the climate expertise of James Hanson, Mark Easter lays it all out: We CAN feed the world and nourish the earth at the same time. Here is how it can be done. And here is how you can participate. Authoritative, entertaining, and useful — this is the book I have been waiting for.” — Kathleen Dean Moore, author of Encouragement for Earth’s Weary Lovers

“Every bite we take — whether from a peach, a lamb chop, or a chunk of braised tofu — has an impact on a landscape somewhere in the world. Many thanks to Mark Easter for his thoughtful and comprehensive appraisal of the methods by which our food is produced and for this roadmap to align our eating with our concerns for the planet’s health.” — Kristin Ohlson, author of The Soil Will Save Us and Sweet in Tooth and Claw

“Anyone asking ‘can we eat ourselves out of the climate crisis?’ should begin with this book. Mark Easter offers not only a beautiful hymn to the elements, but a wonderful introduction to the difficult demands that science makes of us when we ask the most difficult questions with deep honesty and commitment.” — Raj Patel, author of Stuffed and Starved: The Hidden Battle for the World Food System

“In a well-structured mash up of research, analysis, and — above all — story, Mark Easter has created one of the most compelling books about climate change in recent memory. Or wait, is it about food? That's the beauty of the book — it is truly about both, and how our daily choices about what to put on our plates ties us into a global network of food production and delivery that has been the largest contributor to global warming, yet also holds the key to reversing the trend. In the end, they give the readers the power that only knowledge can instill: how to make the choices that support a food system that heals both body and planet... how to create blue plates.”— Kate Williams, CEO of 1% for the Planet

“An entertaining, enlightening, and uplifting guide to the food-climate connection.” — David R. Montgomery, co-author of What Your Food Ate and The Hidden Half of Nature

“A feast of vivid stories about the future of agriculture — and the future of us all. Let ecologist Mark Easter fill your plate with hope.” — Michelle Nijhuis, author of Beloved Beasts: Fighting for Life in an Age of Extinction

“Mark Easter gives us a different way of looking at food and a different way of looking at climate change He clearly loves food and has something important to say about it.” —Mark Kurlansky, New York Times bestselling and James A. Beard Award-winning author

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Can We Eat Our Way Out of the Climate Crisis?

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